Growers and Grocers

In an effort to help the local homeless population here in South Florida, some friends and I pass out Ziplocs filled with pb&j sandwiches, snacks, water, toiletries, notes to show you care and on a good night — socks. These little bags of compassion, have appropriately been named: LoveBags [www.lovebags.org].

Last night, friends met at my studio to assemble the bags (a tasty blend of bologna and Kraft cheese, due to the recent recall on peanut butter).  In the morning, as I was running late for a meeting, I whipped together a grilled cheese with the leftover white bread from the LoveBags, and tossed in some fresh basil that a friend had harvested from our community garden. Whipping through traffic, brushing crumbs off my blazer, I kind of marveled at the transformation my white bread grilled cheese had taken with the simple touch of fresh basil.

After a day of meetings, I returned to my studio to cook dinner, and what did I find?  Still, the half-loaf of flimsy, crumby, tasteless white bread. For a girl raised in a whole wheat household, I stood perplexed. Gathering my wit, I splashed a cast-iron pan with olive oil, tossed in a piece of bread, some pepper-jack cheese, a handful of leafy basil and coarsely chopped some roasted red peppers. After warming canned tomato soup, and topping it with the community garden basil, I had before me, a meal that had been completely transformed by the sweet aroma of fresh basil. Proving my point, that what once was boring, can now be fresh and lively, due to my locavore roots.